By Jim O'Sullivan

Symbolic of the organizational shakeups promised by Mitt Romney during his successful gubernatorial campaign, Environmental Affairs Secretary Ellen Roy Herzfelder is pushing for the privatization of public ice rinks formerly managed by the now-defunct Metropolitan District Commission. According to an Environmental Affairs spokesman, Roy Herzfelder is considering shifting the rinks policy toward a model used statewide, attempting to balance quality service with affordable and plentiful ice time.

Felix Browne, spokesman for the state agency, said contracts in Plymouth, Haverhill, and Peabody were paradigms for a system the state hopes to apply to local rinks under control of the Division of Urban Parks and Recreation, the retooled MDC, which falls into Roy Herzfelder's domain. Browne added that state oversight is "incredibly important."

Efforts to reach youth hockey officials in Plymouth, Haverhill, and Peabody were unsuccessful Tuesday night.

State Senator Jack Hart said the state was in "information gathering mode."

"[Privatization] is a question that's frightening on one hand, because we don't want to lose what we have, but intriguing on another when you start to talk about having a rink opened year-round, improving the services," Hart said.

Dorchester Youth Hockey, one of the state's most successful programs, plays at Devine Rink on Morrissey Boulevard, and logs approximately 30 hours of ice time per week there, according to Dan Fullam, president of the program.

Fullam said 400 youths play organized hockey in the non-profit neighborhood leagues, which have an estimated operating cost of $200,000, he said. Fullam, who has two children in the program, estimated that more than half of that money went toward paying for ice time.

He said Dorchester Youth Hockey likely would oppose plans to privatize the rink management.

"We would want to see the rinks stay the way they are," Fullam said.

John McDonald, former president of the program, said its tuition jumped this year from $130 to $160, adding that fundraising efforts subsidize that cost for parents.

"Cost is an issue," McDonald said. "If the cost is too much, the kids don't come out."

According to Hart, Devine Rink needs $1.7 million in capital improvements over the next five years, a figure of which Browne said he was unaware.

After meeting with environmental secretary and other senators two weeks ago, Hart called a meeting of youth sports officials and other politicians last week, putting out the word of the discussion.

In a telephone interview with the Reporter on Monday, Hart stressed the transfer of rink management to private companies "is not a done deal," and said he would look to seasoned program officials for advice.

"We are relying on their expertise to guide us as we go forward here," Hart said.

McDonald said two options for qualified managers of the rink, the city and Dorchester Youth Hockey itself, were not financially capable of tackling the job, citing liability and the prospect of steep costs incurred by the sudden need for major repairs.

"It's not trivial to run a rink," he said.

"We want a rink operated by people or an organization where the number-one priority is to provide for people not, whose number-one priority is to make a dollar," McDonald said.

Milton state Senator Brian Joyce, whose district included parts of Dorchester until last January, filed a bill in March that called for the MDC to privatize its 21 rinks, entering into 10-year leases that Joyce's office said would preserve state ownership and oversight of the rinks, while seeking to gain much-needed funding from private sector investors.

"At the end of the day, I'm really concerned and I'm not sure how much influence [local elected officials] will have in the final decision process," said City Councillor Maureen Feeney. "But this is a vital program for our community. This is something that we just cannot let slip away."

"I would hope that our representatives up there would battle for the kids," Fullam said.